#GirlPower at its Finest … @Beyonce, #SheDidThat!

After watching last night’s draw dropping, eye popping, heart racing winter finale episode of ABC’s “Scandal,” my Twitter feed continued to blow up. This time, it was all about the one and only Beyonce! Beyonce dropped a new album without pre-marketing, “traditional” distribution or even a hint of a buzz that it was coming.

The self-titled album “Beyonce,” which can only be heard and bought via iTunes, consists of an impressive collection of 14 songs and 18 videos. What other artist on this planet can do something like that? Who does that? 🙂 Well, Mrs. Carter did! #SheDidThat!

This post isn’t about charitable works, health awareness or services that benefit women. This post is about a woman who believed she could, therefore, she did … ever since she was a little girl singing and winning local competitions as heard during the beginning of the second track, “Haunted,” off her latest album.

Beyonce continues to set the bar for both herself and other artists. According to CNN.com, Beyonce called the project a “visual album” and said “I see music.”

“It’s more than just what I hear,” she said. “When I’m connected to something, I immediately see a visual or a series of images that are tied to a feeling or an emotion, a memory from my childhood, thoughts about life, my dreams or my fantasies. And they’re all connected to the music.”

Her fifth studio album has been eagerly awaited since the success of “4,” which was released in 2011. Over the past year she has hinted that something new was in the works and previewed singles including “Grown Woman,” “Bow Down/I Been On” and “Standing on the Sun,” which served as the soundtrack for her H&M fashion campaign.

The new album – which quickly shot to No. 1 on iTunes Friday – features collaborations with rapper Drake, singer Frank Ocean and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and, of course, her husband, rapper Jay Z. Daughter Blue Ivy also makes a cameo.

The bold and innovative move was hailed by critics and fans. USA Today ‘s Korina Lopez wrote “It’s a fully baked album, no filler remixes and re-released greatest hits. By sidestepping promotional blitz and gimmicks, this album could be her most personal yet.”

According to Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times, Beyonce, her producers and writers began work on the project last summer while they were all together in the Hamptons. The end result, Kennedy said, “is a striking collection of work that shows her torching the veil of her carefully crafted image.”

“Songs on the album jump and dive between genres and are woven together with everything from spoken word and trap raps to the coos of her daughter Blue Ivy and vintage Destiny’s Child footage,” Kennedy wrote. “It’s a lot to consume, but a revelatory look at the singer who has tirelessly calculated what she chooses to share (and it’s not always much).”

Miles Marshall Lewis, the Arts & Culture editor for Ebony.com, writes that Beyonce has overshadowed some other big-name singers who have recently released new projects.

For her part, Beyonce said in her video to fans that she was inspired by the legendary Michael Jackson.

“I remember watching ‘Thriller’ on TV with my family. It was an event, we all sat around the TV and now looking back, I am so happy I was born around that time,” she said. “I miss that immersive experience.”